Waiting for Never - Post Malone

Exile

Marli expected Austin to be invited to several new years eve parties but at this point, it's just ridiculous. They had arrived back in LA the day after Christmas day, Austin having to head straight to the rehearsal studio and Marli to the designers to start finalizing his tour wardrobe. But she is battling to get done as she has to stop and check a new years party invite every few minutes everyone wants a piece of Austin.
One hundred and seventy-five. That's how many parties he has been invited to. He says he does not want to go to any but as Jonas explained it's good publicity and suggests he go to at least one. Austin eventually agrees, but tells Marli to find a small one, an underdog party he says. Marli finds a venue that only has about one hundred people going. It's in a park so Marli thinks it will be pretty. She confirms his attendance and when they ask him to perform two of his songs he agrees. After spending a week wrapped up in Austin, with her family and away from LA Marli finds the following week straining. She is back to only getting Austin alone in the wee hours of the morning, and even then they are both so tired from trying to prepare for his tour that not much happens other than sleeping. His tour starts in 30 days, on 1 February, leading up to that Austin's schedule is booked solid every single day, and late into the evening, only two nights are free on Austin's insistence. The weekend of the 14th of January -Marli's birthday. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard his instruction. She had not even known that he had known about her birthday. But knowing that he intended on making a little bit of a fuss over it makes her feel like she may just be something more to him than an itch to scratch.

With such a busy schedule Marli is hoping she can get some time with Austin at the New Years' party, it's small and intimate so she hopes she can take what she needs from Austin to survive until her birthday. It's hard having to share Austin with the rest of the world.  At 7 pm on New Years' eve, Austin, Marli, Lou, Max, Jack, Jonas, and a cocktail waitress Jonas has been dating this week are on their way to the small New Years' eve party in the park. The traffic is really bad and by the time it's nearing 8 pm they are still stuck in traffic. Austin is due to play at 9 pm so just in case there are more traffic issues Marli decides to phone the organizers to let them know. "Oh, My Gosh Marli!! We were just about to call you!" Jim, one of the organizers picks up on the first ring. He sounds very stressed out. "Hello, Jim. I was just phoning to let you know that we are on our way. The traffic is really backed up. I am worried we might be a little late. I am really sorry," Marli explains. "What? No, please don't be sorry. The traffic issues are actually our fault. We made a huge error. We are running two parties one private, this one, and one public. We accidentally opened this one to the public," he explains. "OK, well what does that mean for us, Jim?" Marli asks confused and slightly annoyed. How did they mess that one up? "It means that this is not an invite-only party anymore, anyone can come. They know Austin will be performing too. The one hundred people have turned into the max capacity this park will allow for an event," he says. Marli's heart drops. She has seen pictures of the park - it's big. "How many people?" she asks. "Three thousand," Jim answers. Austin and Max laugh at something Jonas says. Marli turns herself away from the cheerful group. "Jim, Austin does not want to perform in front of thousands of people tonight," she says trying to keep her voice even. This was supposed to be a quiet night, he was going to play 2 songs, maybe a stolen kiss under fireworks at midnight, and then straight home. That plan is out the window. "I know, I know! Shit, I am so sorry," Jim tries to apologize. "Is there nothing you can do?" she asks knowing there is nothing he can do. She is just having a hard time keeping the wobble out of her voice, trying to swallow the lump in her throat, and blink away the stupid tears threatening to spill over. She is overreacting and being completely unrealistic. She knows this. It's just that she really wanted the intimacy of tonight. she misses Austin even though he is right next to her. She can feel him slipping away from her. She knows he has started drinking again, she has started to taste the hint of alcohol on his breath that he has tried to hide with chewing gum. If she can just get him alone again for a second, she could maybe stop the inevitable from happening. She swallows the lump in her throat and blinks away the threatening tears again.